Knitting, Biking and Some Sober Second Thoughts

Rock Island Shawl: Islands Complete

Getting closer. Rock Island chart is complete now.

I got cocky. After the last post, I messed up somewhere one row after my lifeline and could not figure it out. So I ripped back. Suddenly one of my islands was unravelling. I hadn’t strung the lifeline through it properly. I grabbed it desperately, pinching so hard my thumbnail left an imprint in my index finger, while I dug around in my supplies for a crochet hook. I know I just saw that hook; how could it have gotten so buried?!

Anyway, I managed to catch the right stitches and stop the unravelling, but I must have scooped in the wrong direction at some point. You can tell I’m not a true blogger yet because it did not occur to me during the panic to photograph the carnage. Here it is after-the-fact:

Right in the middle of the photo. Averted immediate complete disaster, but created permanent less-significant disaster: a twisted stitch.

I noticed the twisted stitch a couple of rows later, but I didn’t bother trying to go back to fix it. I am terrible at dropping stitches down if it’s anything but stockinette. If my inexperienced eyes can barely see it, hopefully most other people won’t notice. Also it’s near the edge. Also also, I will just tell them it adds character to the shawl.

After that, things went pretty smoothly. I started to get “Oh, ssk always should start on the yarn over from the previous row,” which I had kind of seen before, but suddenly it just became really clear and I could spot where I had missed the yarn overs on the previous row (which was by far my most common mistake). The pattern is actually really straightforward looking at it now (I can say that because I’m officially done with that part of things). Perhaps a little ambitious as a first lace project, but totally do-able. I think the size of the piece is more of a barrier than the lace pattern in terms of making and tracking down mistakes.

Now the real question is when will my blocking wires get here? Soooooooon I hope.

A blog about knitting, biking, movies and books although I can’t keep up with new releases and I like to overthink things for a month or seven. I’m also finishing up my PhD but it’s taking a long time, so it’s probably best if we don’t talk about that. Currently living in Toronto.